Together out on the open road!!!
We arrived at DA’s house on Thanksgiving afternoon. We’d been teasing her for months that she’d be waiting on the driveway with her suitcase. She wanted to leave immediately – but we convinced her that we’d leave on Friday morning & head straight to Pensacola.
Friday.November.25.2005
Long day in the car, everything went fine. Stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Pensacola, not great but okay. Had dinner at a nearby restaurant: Los Rancheros — very good food. DA = Chicken Alfredo, Wall-E = Spicy Hot Burrito, Dznyknitter = Chiles Rellenos.
BTW: The trip along the panhandle added lots of miles to the trip. We live in N Indiana. DA lives in central Virginia. We went to the extreme western tip of the Florida Panhandle. Would have been closer to head straight to WDW, but I didn’t argue with the 2 intrepid travelers — they were having fun planning that part of the trip & I really enjoy seeing them so danged happy.
Saturday.November.26.2005
Dznyknitter & Wall-E
Wall-E had one request for this first weekend of our trip — he wants to eat on the water as much as possible & he wants seafood as much as possible. We get up, grab at snack at the “free breakfast” & hit the road; headed to Destin Florida. We found a place on the water with seafood for breakfast, Harbor Seafood & Grill (actually, DA took a photo there that became our Christmas card for 2005). It was on the water, the sun was shining, and we were in Florida!! Breakfast: DA = eggs, nice crispy bacon, home fries, rye toast, coffee. Wall-E & Dznyknitter both = shrimp omelet w/ tomatoes, wheat toast, coffee. Breakfast was YUM x5.
DA & Dznyknitter, Destin FL
Drove along the panhandle all day. Stopping here and there, taking photographs, our goal is Perry Florida & the Hampton Inn (this hotel has won lots of Hilton awards & Wall-E picked it out). Stopped for a cocktail at the Miracle Bar in St. Joe Beach. Nice little place, probably not to everyone’s taste, but we liked it. Made it to our Hampton Inn, all tired & getting a bit cranky, need to eat. We walked over to Mama’s Italian Restaurant — in a single word, YUCK. Wall-E sent his food back (very rare) & just didn’t eat. Luckily, the Hampton Inn is spectacular. Walked back over, here are my notes made late that night with input from my two intrepid travelers:
- must stay here, if coming anywhere near, stay!
- Chivas in a real glass (complimentary)
- fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate (complimentary)
- great cookies
- BEST Hampton Inn we’ve ever stayed at
- lobby food area great layout
- food was out all evening (meat & cheese platter, crackers, fruit platter, veg platter, the aforementioned strawberries & cookies)
- this really is the #1 Hampton Inn in the world
Sunday.November.27.2005
Breakfast at the Hampton Inn, hit the road. Today’s goal = Siesta Key & Venice. We had a late-ish lunch at Phillipi Creek Oyster Bar (between Sarasota & Siesta Key), Wall-E & I had eaten there many times when fishing in Siesta Key. DA loved it too. DA & Dznyknitter had 1/2 lb shrimp dinners w/ slaw. Wall-E had the shrimp salad. A few house beers, bud lights, & white zinfandels all around.
Next we took DA to the beach! She hadn’t seen a beach or the Gulf of Mexico in YEARS. Had a great time just walking around taking pictures, digging our feet into that sugar dust sand, & she went out into the water holding her pants legs up high (great photo of that!). Drove around Siesta Key & Long Boat Key, just having a grand time.
Stopped at the Crescent Club (when we’ve been to Siesta Key before, we stayed at the House of the Sun, across the street from the Crescent Club), had to stop in here for old times sake.
Stayed at the Hampton Inn Venice. Not too great. Stinky, smelly, sewer gas (we had to move a time or two). We were all upgraded to suites (I’m a diamond level Hilton HHonors member) — but there was still some weird plumbing thing going on. Spent the evening hanging out around the pool, playing cards, doing laundry, watched a movie in DA’s room — hit the hay, went to sleep.
Notes: DA’s favorite things about today
- driving & looking
- BIG bridge
- walking in sugar sand & sticking my feet in the Gulf of Mexico
- wine & lunch @ that seafood bar
Monday.Nov.28.2005
We get to Disney World!! They had been teasing me for weeks. Wall-E said he was going to get us all up at 3:30 in the morning so that I wouldn’t miss a single second at Disney World — well, that didn’t happen, but I have to confess that I was a bit out of sorts @ breakfast & anxious to get to Mickey’s House!!! We made it to POR by about 9:30 or so in the morning…
